It is an exciting week now with a lot of work to be done. Friday will be the last day for all the volunteers on site. The Kenyan volunteers will be returning to their studies/ jobs and the UK volunteers will be flying back to the cold (?). The school’s students will be leaving to prepare to come back for school on 2nd September. They will all be sad to go but let’s not focus on that too much yet…there’s a lot of work to be done!

We have 3 days to finish roofing the classroom block, complete the gatehouse for the gate to be fitted and to finish the gable wall in the kitchen. It is a pleasure now to be reporting you from none other than Team Termite Queen. They have been working hard on a variety of tasks here on site and now wish to share with you how it has been. “Let us begin by explaining our team name…. it came from an experience we had very early on that will bond us forever….On the second day of working, we were faced with an unexpected challenge. The task was simply to landscape the courtyard by digging up a mound and spreading the earth. All seemed to be well until an obscure white wood-like substance presented itself. Upon further inspection we saw some rather crawly creatures writhing all over it. As we dug further and further, more presented themselves. The Kenyan team seemed to get increasingly intrigued whilst the UK team became increasingly squeamish. What had they unveiled?

All seemingly became clear upon the discovery of a black case…this supposedly was the ‘treasure’ we had been digging for. The UK team were soon to learn that this was the home of the Termite Queen. As if the find was not enough, they were soon taught that this was a precious delicacy they simply must try. After a while of debating who should be the lucky ones, two of the UK volunteers and the Kenyan volunteer leader took the plunge. We are yet to see if the promised health benefits were actualised: ‘free lungs’, loss of weight, general raising of body temperature. Perhaps a third of a termite queen simply is not enough. The lasting benefit we can be sure of is the power bestowed on this team by their new found team name.” Bethany Moran, UK Volunteer

The team elected Anne, a local volunteer, to be their team leader:“I am very happy to be team leader and I thank all my members for electing me. The work was challenging on the first day but as we continued it was good and very much enjoyable. The physical work has been tough but we, as a team, quickly got used to it after a few days and now it is a really good job. We have very funny stories from all groups; that is UK Team, Kenyan Team and the deaf.The teamwork made everything easy because all the team leaders made sure that his or her team members are around at their respective places of work at the right time. After reporting to Riandu there was a kind of barrier in communications because we couldn’t understand the sign language from the deaf students and also the UK team used to speak very fast in their English. Fortunately, we got used to it after a while and now communication is very good. It is a privilege to lead the UK team, deaf students and also the rest of the volunteers. We pray God to bless and continue blessing us all abundantly.This school building project has favoured our community and will be useful to people across Kenya. It means that deaf children who had no secondary school can now continue their education after primary school. It has also created opportunities for the surrounding community.” Anne Muchungu, Kenyan Volunteer

“One of the struggles of the team Termite Queen is that we haven’t always been working on the same building at the same time. At one point we had one member working on trusses, another two/ three working on the classroom and another working on the gatehouse. So because of this, when we do work on the same part of the buildsite, we make sure to enjoy it. For instance, while working on the classroom this week, we have been throwing and catching the bricks to speed up the process of brick laying. Because of this, we have managed together to build an interior wall in the space of only a few days. Previously it may have taken longer.

We have even been using time saving tactics to remove the dead bricks from the classroom, instead of filling a wheelbarrow and wheeling it under the scaffolding and all around the building, we decided to throw them through the window space to a waiting wheelbarrow. All the while, being safe of course!” Ali Dunn, UK Volunteer

“In conclusion, we have ensured that we make our weaknesses to be our strength and maintain our strength. We have also employed any necessary tactics to fight off challenges in any circumstance. It is our hope and prayer that the most high God will bless the work of our hands with the new skills we have acquired during the project. We are also ready and determined to support this Riandu Project to ensure that our deaf in the community are are favoured in our country. We want to stop the ignorance about deafness and so they will be able to benefit the entire country. Then they will be able to be independent. This is the change we want to see.” Ken, Kenyan Volunteer